PokeShipping Week 2015
by EchidnaPower
Summary: November 1st through November 7th is PokeShipping week and I intend to shoot out a new oneshot for each day of the week! Hope you're ready for this! The theme for Day 7 and the official PokeShipping Day is "Reunion." Read and review!
1. Six Years

**Welcome to PokeShipping Week 2015! So, this whole thing was started on Tumblr (which I now have one of if you're interested) and I decided I'd join in on the fun and write up a oneshot for each day. This won't be easy, but I am determined to succeed! Now then, I won't keep you guys any longer. Here's the first theme: "If Misty never left." I own nothing except the story.  
** _

Six years. It's been six years since I started my journey, six years since I got my first Pokémon and best pal in the whole world, Pikachu. It's been six years since I got my first gym badge, and six years since I first entered the Indigo League...but now, I'm finding myself reflecting on a different milestone, one that has come to mean more to me over the years than all the other ones combined.

It's been six years since I met Misty.

Camping underneath the stars in our sleeping bags, I sometimes find myself unable to sleep, and I think about what it would've been like if Misty had ever left the group. There had been a brief scare when I was thirteen where her sisters had called her back to the Cerulean City gym to take over for them while they went on a cruise, but luckily Misty had told them to shove off. She used slightly harsher language than that but if I used it myself, I swear my mom would somehow find a way to get all the way out here just to slap me.

I was thirteen years old when Misty got that call, and I felt something stir in my heart that was unlike anything I'd ever felt before. The thought of losing Misty and having to travel without her made me feel sick to my stomach and my chest ached at the idea of traveling alone. I didn't really understand it at the time, but now I do. Misty and I had gotten so close from our travels that we were practically connected. There's a special bond that we share that not even Pikachu and I can say we have with each other.

Misty can be demanding, she can be aggressive, and sometimes she can just be one of the biggest pains in the neck you'll ever encounter. I've thought all of those things over our six years of traveling, and there are times when I still think that. But I wouldn't trade her for anyone else in the world.

May was nice, and so was Dawn. I actually enjoyed getting to act as the mentor for once instead of the mentee. Iris was...interesting, and I learned a lot from her as Unova was a region that was the home of all sorts of unique Pokémon that Misty and I never even knew existed. But as much fun as they were to travel with, I'd still choose Misty in a heartbeat.

People don't realize what she's meant to me over our six years together, sometimes I forget myself...of course that's quickly fixed by a swift bop on the head courtesy of Misty's mallet...where does she keep that thing anyway? The point is, she's meant a lot to me. She's been my mentor, my conscience, my comforter, my friend, my rival, my sparring partner, and my landing pad for when I fall. She's supported me - in her own way of course - ever since I started my journey, and to think it never would've happened if Pikachu hadn't fried her bike the first day we met.

I'll be the first to admit, she's gotten on my nerves a lot over our six years together, and the reverse is true for her of course. Bickering has become a very common thing for us and it's practically routine at this point, luckily our arguments nowadays are kept short and they're usually over trivial things like the direction we're supposed to be going and when we should stop for lunch while on the road. In place of the torture we used to put each other through, there's now a deep bond of friendship that would never be broken no matter who came along, and I'm so grateful for that.

But all of those things I mentioned Misty meant to me? Yeah they're all true, and they're really important to me. Misty is a huge reason that I am who I am today. But there's one last thing I didn't mention yet, and it's quite possibly the biggest thing of all and also the one I'm happiest to think about whenever I do. Misty is still my conscience at times, still my rival, my sparring partner, my comforter and friend, she's still all those things.

But as of just a few months ago...she's now also my girlfriend.

Just thinking about how we got together brings a grin to my face, and watching her sleep so peacefully makes my heart swell as this is when Misty is really at her prettiest. I have no idea when I started thinking of Misty as pretty, I know it was before we officially became a couple but I can't pin down when exactly I'd come to the conclusion that I was attracted to her. Maybe I always was and I never realized it.

Here in the moonlight, she looks like an angel sent from above. Her short hair cutely framing her face and a small, content smile gracing her features as she slept. She sure wasn't scrawny anymore, her family genetics had taken hold of her a few years ago and she's grown into an amazing woman since then. I'm just glad I was able to keep up and be a good enough guy for her. In all honesty, Misty could have any guy she wanted at the drop of a hat, but imagine my shock when I found out that she'd been waiting for me all these years.

I told her how I felt about her just before our journey in Unova ended, and she whacked me on the top of the head and started crying with a smile on her face, asking what had taken me so long to say something. After that, we hugged and even took a crack at kissing for the first time. It was a little weird, but in a good way. We're a lot better now though so I enjoy it a lot more too.

Honestly, I wish I'd told her long before Unova. I think I started knowing I was attracted to her when I saw how May and Drew teased each other relentlessly, and Misty would tell me over and over how they liked each other, how obvious it was. I think that was when a light bulb came on in my head, and I suddenly saw Misty in a different light. Strange way for me to realize it I know, but since when I have ever done anything the normal way? But then again, like I said, I can't pin it down for sure.

Six years I've traveled with her and only now am I getting to enjoy the true amount of love and caring that Misty has for me, a passion that I never knew she had until that fateful evening when I worked up the courage to confess my feelings. Brock had tried so hard to get me to do it earlier in Hoenn and even in Sinnoh, I kinda feel bad that I waited until Unova to tell Misty anything and make Brock miss out on everything. He was my biggest supporter during that confusing time, and I owe him a lot for Misty and me getting together.

I love her with everything I am, and I intend to make sure she's mine forever someday. For six years we've been traveling together and I firmly believe it was fate that we met, the connection we have is just too strong for it to be coincidence. I remember telling her it was fate that we met back when I thought she was leaving me to go home, and I remember being ecstatic when she came back and said she was going to be staying. She's my best friend and partner, my rival and my lover, and not a day goes by now that I don't give thanks for Misty being in my life.

Six years together, and tomorrow we'll be heading out on the road once more to explore a whole new region with all new Pokémon all over again. I'm excited about taking on the Kalos Region, but what makes me even more excited is that I'll have Misty by my side through it all. Six years we've been doing this now, and all I can think now is that I can't wait for year number seven.  
_

 **A/N: Did you like that? Done in Ash's point of view, I wanted to really go into the mind of Ash Ketchum as he reflects on what Misty has meant to him in his life (and what she WOULD HAVE meant if she'd stayed all along). So the next theme is "Afraid of losing you." Oh doesn't that sound happy? Oy...ANYWAY, if you enjoyed that, please leave a review! And check out my Tumblr if you haven't already, it's real easy to find, just google "echidnapower tumblr" and I'm there. So, thank you all for joining me, check out my profile for more stories that I've written, and as always, I will see YOU...in the next story. BUH BYEEEEEEE! (Markiplier imitation)**


	2. I Can't Lose You

**Here is Day 2 of PokéShipping Week, where the theme is "Afraid of losing you." Sigh...I don't like this theme, this is not a happy theme, and I'm not good at writing NOT happy themes. I hope I did a good job, but I guess that's up to you guys. Without further ado, here it is. I own nothing except the story.  
** _

It was supposed to be a joyous time, it was supposed to be a great day where friends and family gathered together to celebrate the birthday of one very special person, one who had touched the hearts and souls of everyone he met and made them into better people and Pokémon trainers whether it was directly or indirectly.

Instead, it was a day of great tension and anxiety, as worry filled the hearts and minds of all who were gathered in the Viridian City hospital, awaiting a change of any kind that would at the very least tell them whether they would need to start preparing a welcome home party, or a funeral.

Naturally, everyone was worried, as the entirety of the guest list for the eighteenth birthday of Ash Ketchum sat in the waiting room waiting for an answer regarding their friend; in the case of one Delia Ketchum, her one and only son. But as worried as they all were, there were none more worried than one Misty Waterflower, the Gym Leader of Cerulean City and girlfriend of three years to Ash Ketchum.

"Come on Misty, you need to eat," Brock Slate, Ash's best friend and recently certified Pokémon Doctor placed a comforting hand on the redhead's shoulder. "Sitting there won't help things, you need to keep up your strength."

"Not hungry." Misty grumbled out her response and took Brock's hand off her shoulder before sighing and looking up at him from the chair across from Ash's hospital bed. "I'm sorry Brock, I'm just so worried."

The doctor gave a brief and understanding smile. "I know," he nodded. "Why don't I bring you an apple muffin from the vending machine?"

The redhead closed her eyes and smiled before opening them again and nodding. "Thank you, for everything."

Brock nodded his understanding at her meaning and walked out of the room before running an anxious hand through his ever-spiky hair. "You gotta pull through big guy," he said looking over his shoulder at the curtain concealing Ash's room. "For her sake if nothing else."

Once Brock was gone, Misty turned back to Ash with a deep frown. "This wasn't how today was supposed to go." she said almost to herself. "You're not supposed to be laying in a hospital bed in a coma on your birthday, you're supposed to be stuffing your face with cake and making dumb jokes and getting on my nerves like you're always so good at doing." she shook her head and wiped an escaped tear off her face with her thumb. "You're supposed to propose to me today."

It had all been set perfectly. Ash would come home after his latest journey and return home to find a note that told him that his mom had gone to visit Prof. Oak, and once he followed that clue, he was supposed to go there and find all of his friends from all his previous journeys through the regions hanging out at Prof. Oak's ranch for a surprise birthday party.

That part of the plan went off without a hitch, and Ash was shocked beyond words when he saw all of his friends standing in front of a huge table with all of his favorite foods and presents and cake, shouting out "Surprise!" in unison as they welcomed him home. Misty had rushed over to him and wrapped him into a bone-crushing hug, letting his now tall and strong body lift her into the air as they embraced, and she had given him a little birthday kiss just to make sure she got to start celebrating with him first.

The party went on with no problems, Ash was having a fantastic time and the party was jumping. But Misty couldn't wait until after the party was over, as she and Ash had made tentative plans for him to propose to her on his eighteenth birthday so they would officially become an engaged couple, though she had no idea how Ash planned to do it, that was his particular condition. They planned to wait a while longer before getting married, but they wanted to be able to have that special title that said they were both off-limits to anyone else.

Then THEY arrived.

Team Rocket had shown up once again to crash the party and take a shot at snagging Pikachu once more. They did their dumb motto as per the norm, and they then used an extendo-grabber to grab Pikachu off of Ash's shoulder and take off before it was too late. But this time Ash had grabbed onto Pikachu, and as a result he wound up getting dragged along with him to their balloon.

He punched Meowth's lights out once he got there and the grabber released Pikachu, but that was when everything went horribly wrong. As the scene replayed in her mind, Misty squeezed her eyes shut and fought to hold back her hot tears of anguish. She could vividly picture Ash falling to the ground, she could practically hear the sickening thump that was Ash's head hitting the ground, and after that it was all a blur.

She remembered unleashing Gyarados who then proceeded to blast Team Rocket off, and after that she could faintly remember Brock's voice yelling for someone to call 9-1-1, and seeing the small box that had fallen out of Ash's pocket nearby, containing what must have been her engagement ring.

Team Rocket had lost again, but the damage was done.

Now with his head wrapped in a bandage after doctors had given him the best treatment possible - Misty had made sure of that - Ash laid on a hospital bed, hooked up to a life monitor which beeped steadily next to the bed while Pikachu slept fitfully next to Ash, curled up into a ball and obviously in great distress himself. "You knew him longer than any of us." Misty choked back a sob as she watched the electric-type toss and turn.

As she scooted closer to the bed, Misty took hold of Ash's hand and placed it in-between her own hands, giving it a gentle squeeze as she tried to keep her emotions at least somewhat in check. "Can you hear me Ash?" she said softly. "It's me, it's Mist, I'm here Ash." she gave a little smile as she continued to talk. "I love you Ashy, I hope you knew... _know_ that. I always tried to be the best girlfriend I could be, just like I knew you tried to be the best _boyfriend_ you could be."

She choked back another sob before continuing. "I uh...I saw-I saw the ring, Ash. It's beautiful, and I can't wait for you to wake up so you can give it to me," her voice caught in her throat and she used her sleeve to wipe away the tears that were flowing freely now. To heck with trying to maintain composure. "I never even told you the real reason I wanted you to propose to me, I know you were wondering why I wanted you to so badly...I told you it was because of how much I love you and how I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you...that's only half of the truth though."

Misty took a deep and yet wavering breath before exhaling shakily. "I've always had problems with jealousy, you know that. Even way before we were even dating I would get jealous of any girl who ever showed even the slightest romantic interest in you, whether it was Melody, Bianca or even May, Dawn or Serena. The truth is, I never really got over my jealousy." she squeezed his hand a little tighter. "Even after they all found boyfriends and it was well established they weren't interested in you, I was still worried...worried that...that some _floozy_ from another region would come along and take you from me." she sobbed. "The truth is, I've always been afraid of losing you Ash, you're my _whole world,"_ at this point Misty was in a complete shambles as she spoke in-between sobs. "And if I ever lost you, I don't know what I'd do! That's why I wanted to be engaged to you, as a sort of promise that I would _never_ lose you, that we'd be together forever as a team."

At this point, Pikachu had woken up and had been listening to Misty pour out her heart for the past few minutes, and with his ears lowered in sadness, he crawled into Misty's unsuspecting arms and snuggled into her chest to try and comfort her. She did at least respond to him, and she let go of Ash's hand to wrap her arms around her boyfriend's partner Pokémon as she tried desperately to reign in her crying. "Pikachupi."

Misty inhaled again and closed her mouth to try and control the sobs. Her bottom lip quivered as she fought off the urge to just break out into tears again. For so long she'd prided herself on being able to maintain her composure, minus brief bouts with her temper that is; falling apart at the seams was something that drove her insane...at least under normal circumstances. These were not normal circumstances.

"I've always done my best to be strong Ash," she said hoarsely as she continued to fight off her tears. "I've proven myself as one of the strongest Gym Leaders in the _world,_ let alone Kanto...did I tell you I got a letter the other day from the Pokémon League? They're offering me a chance to interview for Lorelei's spot as a member of the Elite Four. If I got the job, I'd be one step away from reaching my goal Ash, a water-Pokémon master."

Ash of course didn't react, but Pikachu craned his neck up and licked the young woman's face to try and cheer her up a bit. "I worked really hard Pikachu, just like you and Ash have to achieve _your_ dreams...but now that my dream is just within reach, I can't help but feel like it would turn into a nightmare if Ash wasn't there to celebrate it with me." she hugged Pikachu a little tighter and looked up at the white ceiling. "I can't lose him, not now, not after all we've been through together." she looked at the unmoving form of Ash. "I don't know if you can hear me Ash, but if you can," she leaned forward and took his hand again. "I want you to know that I'll be here for you until you wake up. I promise." she lowered her head a moment and sighed. "Please Ash, come back to me, come back to _us..._

"I can't lose you."  
_

 **A/N: I don't know if Misty is necessarily OOC or not...she's now an adult and she was practically engaged to be married to the man laying in a coma, that's a good enough reason to break down right? I mean...I know I would if it were my fianceé in that position...no I'm not engaged, I'm still single. Waiting for the right dance partner. ANYWHO, hope you enjoyed this, angst is my weak point. The next day will be better! "Doing crazy things for love" is next, humor is much more up my alley! Let's meet back tomorrow, shall we?**


	3. Craziest Idea Ever

**Welcome to Day 3 of PokeShipping week! Phew, I'm getting worn out lol. So today's theme is "doing crazy things for love" and I gotta say...you'll either love this story or hate it because good Lord, I have no idea how I thought of this. xD Hopefully you all think it's funny. On with the show! I own nothing except the story.  
** _

"I won't do it."

"Trace you've _got to!"_

"I don't _got_ to do anything, this is _your_ mess so _you_ clean it up!"

"How am I supposed to fix this if she won't even talk to me? Now come on, help me out."

"You know this is a _really_ dumb idea right?"

"It's not the dumbest idea I've ever had."

"You said it, I didn't."

"Well I don't have a better idea right now, so come on."

"Do you have any idea what she'll do to me if she catches me taking their stuff?!"

"Nothing compared to what she'll do to _me_ if I try to step foot in that gym!"

Tracey Sketchit considered himself a simple man, one who enjoyed the simple pleasures of life. A roof over his head, food to eat and water to drink, a sketchpad and pencil, that was all he ever needed to enjoy life whenever he wasn't working at Prof. Oak's laboratory.

Which is why he now found himself shaking his head in utter bewilderment as his young friend Ash Ketchum did his absolute best to coerce him into taking part in an incredibly convoluted scheme that he'd already tried to explain was absolutely doomed from its very inception.

"Even if I _did_ help you Ash, Misty is _not_ stupid, she's gonna take one look at you and know _exactly_ who you are and then things will just get worse because you thought she was dumb enough to fall for it."

"I pulled off the look _once,_ why can't I do it again?"

Tracey face-palmed and shook his head. "I heard the story man, and I'm gonna tell you, one more time, why it worked back then." he started counting reasons for the plan's failure on his fingers. "One: you had no facial hair whatsoever. Two: you were almost a whole foot shorter than Misty at the time."

"Hey! That's-"

"And _three,"_ Tracey exclaimed as he cut off the Pokémon trainer. "You had no muscle mass to speak of so you were able to pull off that crazy masquerade because quite frankly, you looked like a girl!"

The fifteen-year old Ash Ketchum crossed his arms and pouted a bit at the artist's blunt statement. "There's no reason to get all personal you know."

"I'm not, I'm just explaining why your plan won't work. I'm not even gonna try and argue anymore that your plan is dumb, because you're convinced it's a great idea. So instead, for your own sake mind you, I'm trying to explain why it won't work."

"You're starting to sound like Misty."

"Well I'm not usually approached by my friends to go into my girlfriend's gym and steal wigs from their dressing room," Tracey sighed and ran an exasperated palm over his face. "You're taller than her now, you _very_ obviously have a guy's body-"

"Did my guns give it away?" Ash flexed his arms pridefully.

"More like your B.O.," Tracey ignored the deadpan look he was receiving. "And you even have stubble on your chin. Face it Ash, your time as _Ashley_ has long since passed. It's crazy!"

"I don't care _how_ crazy it is, I need to get into that gym and see if I can talk to her, maybe I can find out what I did wrong if I got her to tell a fellow girl. Girls do that right? Tell other girls their problems?"

"I think you're buying into a gender stereotype." the forest-green haired man scoffed. "Look Ash, why don't we make this easy? You give up on this crazy plan right now, and I'll go talk to Daisy and see if Misty told her why she's mad at you, you two can kiss and make up, and then we can pretend we never had this conversation and we can go back to our regularly scheduled lives."

Ash shook his head vigorously. "No, I need to do it myself, Daisy might know you're coming on my behalf and then _she'll_ be mad at _you,"_ he shook his head again and put up a determined fist. "I need to get into that gym and talk to Misty myself, and if I need to dress up as a girl again to make sure I get in there, then I will."

Tracey gave an exaggerated shrug and sighed hopelessly. "I can see this is a lost cause."

"Come on Tracey, please?!" Ash folded his hands and actually got on his knees to beg. "You can't leave me hanging like this, I gotta know why Misty's mad and she won't let me in the gym until I figure it out, I need you!"

Looking around the area in frustration and grumbling to himself the whole time, the artist finally threw his hands up in the air in defeat. "Alright! I'll do it, just get up, you're weirding me out."

The black-haired trainer beamed up at Tracey. "Thanks Trace! You're the best!" he immediately hopped back up to his feet as Tracey turned towards the gym to go on his mission. "Make sure you grab a bunch! And see if you can find a few dresses too!"

"Oh sure, no problem!" Tracey raised a lazy and dismissive hand in acknowledgement just before he entered the gym doors and headed up to where the Sensational Sisters prepared for their water shows. "The things I do for love, not even _my love._ Gotta learn how to say no." Luckily for Tracey, both Misty and Daisy seemed to be nowhere in sight, and Lily and Violet were off at some spa getting a manicure and pedicure…or were they shopping for dresses for a party that night? He couldn't keep track anymore. "It's just as well, didn't wanna have to explain it to them anyway."

He headed up to where the dressing rooms were and opened the door, and his eyes were immediately blinded by the sheer amount of pink in the room, with sparkly objects of every shape and size scattered across the room. "You can tell Misty doesn't want any part of this room, it's a disorganized mess."

He quickly rushed in and grabbed a few wigs of various colors and even grabbed a couple of dresses that looked about Violet's size, and once that was done, he bolted. "Ash owes me big time for this." he did manage to get out the door, and once he was there, he saw Ash looking in a mirror as he tried desperately to apply what appeared to be lip gloss. "You've gotta be kidding."

Ash blinked and turned towards his older friend and smiled when he saw what he had in his hands. "Nice job Trace! You run into any trouble?"

Tracey scoffed as Ash took the items from his arms and he folded his arms in irritation as Ash tried on various wigs to see which would look the most authentic on him. "Misty and Daisy were nowhere to be found, thank goodness. But you'll forgive me if I don't stick around to watch your train wreck." he suddenly felt a buzzing in his pocket and he pulled it out to see that none other than Daisy Waterflower was currently calling his phone. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to have a civilized conversation with my girlfriend." Ignoring the face Ash made at him, the artist walked away and answered his phone before putting it up to his ear. "Hey Dais, what's up?"

 _"Tracey, can you come over to the gym please? I need you for something important."_

"Sure thing Daisy, I'm actually not too far away from there, just gimme a couple minutes."

 _"You are too sweet,"_ he heard her giggle through the phone. " _Thanks babe, see you in a few!"_

"Bye," he hung up the phone and turned to look at Ash, and his eyes widened in horror as he watched his friend try desperately to squeeze into the larger of the two dresses. "No, I'm not looking, this never happened." he turned to head to the gym and never looked back.

"I'll show him," Ash scoffed and shook his head as he finally managed to get his body through the long, sapphire-blue dress. "A little tight, but not too bad." he then reached for a roll of toilet paper he'd brought with him and rolled up a couple of decent-sized balls and placed them into the built-in bra of the dress. After seeing his handiwork in the mirror, the boy grinned and placed a pink-haired wig on his head. "Dang, if I wasn't dating Misty I'd probably date myself."

He'd shaved off what little stubble he had and put on a lot of lip gloss so they looked like the girls he'd seen in movies. Obviously he couldn't use Misty as an example since she tended to dress more like him than a girl, but in his mind that was part of what made her special.

He looked at himself once more in the hand mirror he'd brought and used it to give his whole body the onceover as he reached down to see everything. He frowned a bit once he was done. "Who am I kidding? I look ridiculous…I look _authentic,_ but I look ridiculous."

For a moment he pondered just dropping this whole plan of his and going home until Misty cooled off, but one look at the Cerulean City Gym brought back his determination. "No, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna find out why Misty's mad and I'm gonna find a way to fix it." he cleared his throat and made his voice as high as he could. "So it's time for Angelina to make her debut!"

The moment he walked in the doors of the gym, he saw Misty, Daisy and Tracey all talking to each other in a circle. From what he could tell, Daisy and Misty were not all that happy with the artist. _"Abort, abort!"_ his mind screamed at him. But Ash being Ash, he decided to follow his heart instead and loudly cleared his throat to get their attention.

They immediately turned to face him, and he raised an eyebrow when both Misty and Daisy both suddenly looked constipated while Tracey just smacked his palm over his face. "I'm here for a gym battle with Misty!" Ash squeaked out in his high, girl voice.

"O-Of course, just," Misty smacked a hand over her mouth and fought back a snort. "Just gimme a second, I'll be right with you." Turning to her sister, she nodded once with a smirk before walking over to "Angelina" with a cordial smile. "Welcome to the Cerulean City Gym! I'm Misty, the Gym Leader, and your name is?"

"Angelina!"

"Right," the smirk never left her face. "Well Angelina, let's go over here and we'll start our battle!" She placed a hand on the "girl's" back and led her over to the battle area, and she looked over her shoulder at her sister who was still speaking to her very animated and fearful looking boyfriend. "So," she turned back to the disguised Ash. "What's your favorite Pokémon?"

"Oh that's easy! It's Piiiiii-uh-Pignite! Yeah, you know, those Pokémon from the Unova region? They have some really cool Pokémon there!"

"Oh do they now?" Misty looked up at the suspiciously tall female. "My boyfriend says he's going to Unova really soon, says he's looking forward to the trip."

"Your boyfriend is Ash Ketchum, right?" the redhead nodded at him/her. "I've heard a lot about him, he seems like a really nice guy."

"Oh yeah, he's great." Misty rolled her eyes. "But he can also be egotistical, dense, a complete and utter _moron_ at times…but yeah, he's great." Misty pretended not to notice the suddenly dark expression on "Angelina's" face. "Would be nice if he stopped forgetting important dates, like our one-year anniversary that was yesterday."

"OUR ANNIVERSARY WAS YESTERDAY?!" Ash put both his hands over his lip gloss covered mouth. By the look on Misty's face, he knew the jig was up. "Uh oh."

"Yeah, uh oh." the redhead snarled and stomped towards Ash who was now backing up with his hands up in a placatory gesture. "What do you think you're doing Ash?! Have you completely lost your mind?! I knew you could be an idiot but I didn't know you were _insane!"_

"Misty please, just lemme explain!"

"Explain what?!" she gestured to him. "You are wearing one of Violet's dresses, with the bra stuffed no less, one of the wigs from the dressing room and," she sniffed the air and her eyes widened. "Is that _my_ lip gloss?!"

"I was wondering why it tasted familiar."

"Why Ash? Have you completely lost it?"

Ash opened his mouth to respond, but he quickly closed it and visibly slumped as he lowered his head in sadness. "I'm sorry Misty," he raised his head a little to look at his girlfriend. "But you banished me from the gym and I honestly had no idea what I did to make you wanna do that, so this was the only thing I could think of that maybe I could find out." he took a few tentative steps forward, internally praying that Misty wouldn't beat him down. "I did forget about our anniversary, and I'm really sorry about that, you know I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you right?"

The redhead's expression softened somewhat and she sighed with a shake of her head. "Ash, I love you to death, but you really need to work on your ideas." she stepped over to him and wrapped her arms around him, and she could feel his body loosening up as he slowly wrapped his own arms around her. "I admit it was wrong of me to kick you out of the gym, this is something we need to talk out together as a couple and I wasn't willing to let you say anything."

"I am sorry Misty, really I am." he tilted her head up to face him. "Happy belated anniversary Misty, I promise I won't forget again," he looked at himself. "I've got a pretty good reminder from now on about what would happen if I did."

Misty giggled and looked her cross-dressing boyfriend up and down. "You really do look ridiculous Ash, but I give you an 'A' for effort, you even tried to make the boobs a reasonable size, impressive."

The black-haired trainer immediately blushed beet red and pulled the toilet paper balls out of the dress and tossed them to the ground, which got Misty to nearly bust a gut in laughter as she held her sides in a futile attempt to keep herself from completely losing it. "Is it really that funny?" Ash grumbled.

"Yes!" Misty covered her mouth and took a deep breath before attempting to talk again. "I-I'm sorry Ash," she said between giggles. "I'm not laughing _at_ you really, I appreciate the idea, but the look on your face when I said that, it was just priceless."

"Well you seem to be going out of your way to laugh at my expense," Ash took off the wig and would've kept complaining, but Misty had put her finger on his lips and shut him up, and she then leaned up and captured his lips with her own, and after a few moments, they pulled away and the redhead giggled at the dazed expression on her boyfriend's face.

"You taste good." she laughed when he rolled his eyes. "I love you Ash Ketchum, you've come up with some crazy ideas, but this is the craziest one ever."

"Well what can I say?" he brought her in close for another kiss. "I'll do crazy things for love." They would've kissed again, but Tracey suddenly ran by with Daisy chasing after him in a rage.

"I'll teach you to go through our stuff Tracey Sketchit! Come over here so I can give you a proper lesson! NEVER touch our stuff and I don't care _why_ you did it! TRACEY!"

"Ash, Misty, help!"

The redhead raised an eyebrow and smirked up at her boyfriend. "You really put Tracey in a bad position you know, I knew what was up the second Daisy made him talk and you must've known she'd have a fit."

Ash rubbed the back of his neck. "I owe him big time for this," he winced as he suddenly heard a loud splash, and he saw Tracey under the water in the pool while Daisy hurled insults at him. "I better start making up for it right away."

"Hey," Misty tilted his head back towards her. "You still have making up to do right here."

Smiling at her, Ash moved in and captured her lips with his own once more, their foreheads touching as their lips danced with each other in a romantic and tender way. The idea may have been crazy, but if this is what the end result was, then he could definitely live with it. Though his mind was in a haze thanks to the taste of Misty's lips, he did manage one fleeting coherent thought. _"Maybe I should do something crazy every year._

—–

 **A/N: So…yeah, that was a thing. Don't ask where the idea came from, I don't know. So I'll ask you guys, who was more crazy? Ash coming up with the idea or Tracey for going along with it and helping him out?**

 **Maybe you're thinking none of the above and I'm crazy for writing this way too long piece. xD Well in any case, that's Day 3 ladies and gentlemen! I'm doing good so far, gotta keep this up. Let's meet back tomorrow, shall we?**


	4. The Best Worst Thing Ever

**So yeah, my original idea for the Day 4 theme got semi-scrapped since I realized that I wouldn't be able to squeeze everything I wanted to incorporate into a short oneshot. I'll need to revisit the idea in a separate story later on. Anyways, instead of what I was gonna put, instead I wrote this...I dunno how I feel about it, I don't think it's my best work...but, it's something. Hope you enjoy. I own nothing except the story.  
** _

One would think that being married to the man of your dreams would mean that you'd be happy for the rest of your life. The fantasy of him sweeping you off your feet and carrying you across the threshold as you made it to your hotel room and consummated your first night as a married couple with a night of love making unlike any you'd ever shared before. The afterglow of that event would last all throughout your honeymoon...and not just because you continued to "consummate" all through the week.

For one Misty Waterflower...no, Misty Ketchum, she thought fondly, that much had come to pass exactly as she imagined it. Her wedding had been just one week ago and she along with her new Pokémon Master husband had just gotten back home after an amazing honeymoon touring the Sevii Islands and seeing what each water-surrounded landmass had in store after having years of development. For the most part, she'd been content to just relax at the beach and then get something for dinner and end with a little nightcap in their hotel room, but they had legitimately spent some time touring the islands and seeing the sights...some.

But shortly after they'd returned to their new home in Cerulean City, Misty had begun suffering from cramping, and while the rational part of her figured that it was just her having her period, the timing of it caused her a significant amount of paranoia. This led to her getting a certain test the moment Ash left for work at the Pokémon League, and the results of the said test caused her to drop the small device to the ground and land screen side up.

It revealed the all-too familiar plus sign.

"This is the worst thing ever."

As soon as she'd seen the results, the redheaded Gym Leader had dropped to her knees in shock as she tried to process this new knowledge. She was pregnant, with Ash's baby...the small childish romantic in her was happy of course, but the timing of her impregnation couldn't have been any worse. She still had a lot of work to do at the Gym in the coming months and Ash was still rather new to his title of Pokémon Master. Where would they get the time to take care of a baby?

Suddenly all of these horrible thoughts began swirling around in her mind, thoughts of Ash leaving her and being abandoned like a stray Pokémon who'd displeased his trainer. Her hand found its way to her stomach as she began feeling nauseated from all the stress, but she flinched as soon as she touched her stomach and her eyes widened as she looked down at where there was currently a living, breathing child developing inside of her womb even as she sat there panicking.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door, and she used the bathroom sink to pull herself back to her feet. "I'm coming!" she shouted as steadily as she could. Slowly making her way to the door, she stopped for a moment to grab one of her Pokéballs just in case the visitor wasn't here to be friendly. "Who is it?"

"It's me Mist, I forgot my keys."

"Pika chu."

The redhead lowered her Pokéball-toting hand and sighed in relief, and she opened the door and was greeted by her husband and his Pikachu who was riding on his shoulder. "I swear you'd forget your head if it wasn't attached."

"Well you know me, I'm still pretty dense." he chuckled and leaned down a bit to kiss his wife's forehead, but as soon as he pulled away he frowned and placed the back of his hand on her cheek. "You ok Mist? You're really warm." He watched as Misty's eyes widened in horror and her face turned even more red at that statement, and this alarmed the Pokémon Master as he'd never known Misty to react so drastically to such a simple question. He quickly escorted her over to the couch in the living room and sat down next to her, wrapping his arms around her in an attempt to calm her down. Pikachu went in the other room to give the couple their space. "Misty, say something! What's wrong?!"

She blinked and looked up at her obviously worried husband, she could see the concern and worry for her in his chocolate-brown eyes, the eyes that she'd come to love so dearly over the years. "Ash, I...I don't know how to tell you this," she looked away from him and closed her eyes as tears began to form in them. "I-I know this is horrible timing especially with our jobs and how young we are, we just got married and it's been the best week of my life and-"

She was abruptly cut off by Ash's finger on her lips, and she looked up at him with eyes wide and damp with unshed tears. "Misty, what's wrong?" he asked softly.

She sighed heavily and rubbed at her eyes as the tears began to drip out. "Ash...I think I'm pregnant." As soon as the words came out she regretted them. Ash's expression turned blank and he slowly turned away as if his brain had broken from trying to process this information. "I knew this was a bad thing, I just knew you wouldn't like it! I-"

Her mouth had been stopped by his finger again, and the owner of said finger chose to ignore the scathing look he was receiving as his eyes were still wide with wonder. "You think or you know?"

"Well I...I-I'm not... _exactly_ sure but-"

"Misty, you think or you know?!"

The water-type trainer lowered her head and sighed. "More than likely I _am_ pregnant, I bought a pregnancy test right after you left for work and those things aren't generally wrong." she looked up with tears again flowing from her bluish-green eyes. "I'm so sorry A-" she stopped when she saw the expression on his face. "What?"

"You're pregnant?" he asked in disbelief.

Misty scowled. "I just said I was Ash! Why would I joke about something as serious as this?!" her anger quickly vanished however when Ash suddenly wrapped her into a big bear hug and cheered at the top of his lungs. "What are you so happy about?!"

"What do you mean why I am so happy?!" he released her from his hug and cupped her face in his hands with a beaming smile on his face. "We're going to have a baby, I'm gonna be a daddy!" he pulled her in for another embrace and rested his cheek on the top of her head. "And you're gonna be a mommy, this is fantastic!"

Shaking her head in disbelief, the Gym Leader broke free of the embrace and pushed off of him to get a good look at her now confused husband. "Have you lost it?! This is the _worst_ thing that could happen right now!"

"Misty, what are you talking about?"

"We can't take care of a baby right now Ash, you just became the Pokémon Master and in a few months the gym will be swarming with challengers all making a final push for the Indigo League, how am I supposed to battle them when I'm bloated up to the size of a whale?!"

"Oh is _that_ what this is about?" Ash chuckled and shook his head in amusement. "Well I dunno about your challengers, but speaking just for myself, that just means there'll be more of you for me to love."

The Gym Leader blushed profusely and shook her head defiantly. "Be serious for just ten seconds would you?!" she shouted in frustration. "We don't even know how to take care of a baby! How are we supposed to handle this?!"

Ash frowned and looked his wife dead in the eye. "I _am_ being serious Mist," he scooted closer and slowly wrapped his arms around her again, making sure she couldn't pull away again. "Now it's your turn to listen. First of all, you will make a _great_ mother, Togetic and Azumarill are perfect examples of the kind of mother you are, honestly I'm more worried about me being a good _dad_ than I am about you being a good _mom."_

"What?" she looked up into her husband's eyes. "Ash, you're the sweetest, kindest, gentlest man I've ever known, any child would love to have you as their father."

"Well I appreciate the compliment, but we both know who has the most experience being a parent between the two of us." he chuckled when she shrugged in his arms. "And second of all, I don't care about the timing and I don't care how big you get, I've been wanting to start a family with you ever since we were engaged to be married, and now my dream is coming true."

"Ash, don't get me wrong," she stroked the side of his face with her palm. "I've been wanting to be the mother of your children for years, but don't you think that now is a bad time? With our jobs and whatnot?"

The Pokémon Master shook his head vigorously. "Heck no," he took her hand into his and squeezed it gently. "And besides, if those pencil pushers at the Pokémon League have a problem with it, they can go jump off a cliff for all I care. Challengers come for the title of Master maybe once every twenty years, and even then _they_ have to go through Lance and the Elite Four first. I have much more important things to take care of."

Those words caused Misty's eyes to water again, only this time they were tears of happiness as she snuggled into her husband's chest and let him stroke her back. "I can't believe I actually thought you would leave me over this while I was panicking." she laughed regretfully.

"Now _that's_ just crazy talk." Ash pulled back a bit and raised his wife's shirt, exposing her belly and bringing a gasp from her throat. "I made a promise that I would take care of you no matter what, and now I have _two_ people to take care of." he raised his head and pressed his lips between her eyes. "My Misty," then he lowered himself and pressed his lips against her still taut and toned stomach, earning a pleased moan from her. "And my little mini-Misty in here."

"You don't know it'll be a girl," she said hoarsely as her husband continued kissing her belly. "It might be a mini-Ash."

"I don't care what it is Mist," he looked up and smiled at her. "Whether it's a girl or a boy or one of each, we'll face it together as a family. This isn't the worst thing that could happen, it's the best thing." he suddenly looked thoughtful. "Well kinda,"

"Kinda?"

Ash blushed a bit. "The only downside I can see to this is now I have to share you."

Finally the redhead laughed and wrapped her arms around Ash's neck. "I don't mind sharing, we'll be sharing with our child..." she beamed at that. _"Our child,_ that sounds so nice actually."

"Yeah it does." Ash stroked her hair and gave her a gentle kiss on her lips. "We're gonna be ok Mist, and we're gonna love this kid when it comes." He rubbed her belly and brought her in closer. "We're gonna have a family Misty, it's a dream come true."

"Yeah," Misty breathed and put her hand on his, which was still on her belly. "But I'm gonna miss the alone time a bit," she grinned at him. "I guess you could say this is the best worst thing ever."

Ash shook his head with a chuckle. "You can say that for now, but soon you'll be calling it the best thing ever, period."

"You're probably right." Misty looked down at her stomach and smiled. "I'm sorry I freaked out baby, I can't wait to see you when you come out...this is the start of my greatest dream...a family with the love of my life." She looked back up and moved in to kiss her husband, and she moaned when Ash began gently suckling on her lower lip before pulling back. "I love you Ash..." she once again looked down at her stomach with a tender and loving smile. "And I love our family."  
_

 **A/N: Yeah...it's fluffy at least, but my original idea was gonna have a lot more substance. I wish I could've fit it all, but I'm gonna need a few chapters to do it. So instead you get this cavity-inducing piece. Hope you enjoyed it anyway, and as always, let's meet back tomorrow, shall we?**


	5. Distance

**Here's Day 5 of PokeShipping Week with the theme of "long distance." Took me a lot less time to write this one up obviously as I already had my idea set and ready to go, and this time there was no need to make a switch. So out came this! I hope you enjoy! I own nothing except the story.  
** _

Distance.

Like many other things, it was just another challenge for Ash Ketchum to overcome. How far to the next town? Where in the world is the next region to take on? There had never been a distance that he wasn't able to physically overcome, one way or another he would find a way to his destination and begin working on whatever goal he had there.

But that's discounting the emotional aspects of distance.

Like the old song said, there was no mountain high enough or valley low enough that would keep Ash from reaching his next destination, but the real challenge of distance for him was how far away it kept him away from his friends. One very important friend in particular.

"Do you have any idea when you'll be back?"

"No, I don't...but I'm hoping to be back within the next couple of months."

Ash could feel his heart aching as the girl on the other side of the screen sighed despondently and gave him a longing look. "I miss you."

"Me too Mist...but don't cry."

For the past couple of years, Ash Ketchum had been in something of a long-distance relationship with his girlfriend, Misty Waterflower of Cerulean City. He'd been able to overcome the distances through the help of his flying-type Pokémon back at Prof. Oak's ranch, whether it was Charizard, Staraptor, or more recently his Gliscor who had finally mastered the art of flight.

But in the Kalos Region, even Charizard couldn't overcome that distance.

"I hate this," the young man scowled and looked away from the screen for a moment before turning back. "Every other region I've ever gone to I could just hop on a flying-type Pokémon and I'd be there in a matter of hours, why can't I do that now?"

The redhead shook her head and frowned at her boyfriend. "You know the answer to that just as well as I do Ash, Kalos isn't exactly right across the street, you're halfway around the _world_ this time," she relinquished a sad little smile. "No one ever said achieving our dreams would be easy, if you wanna go the distance, you have to work for it, and I am so proud of you for how far you've come."

The Pokémon Trainer raised an eyebrow. "Are you using distance-based words on purpose or is that completely by accident?"

Misty laughed a bit. "It was an accident, I swear." the longing in her eyes returned. "You're chasing your dream Ashy, and you're _so close_ too. The next time you come home, you may be returning home as a Champion!" Surprisingly, this got Ash to frown again. "What's the matter?" the redhead crossed her arms in disapproval. "You're not doubting yourself _again_ are you?"

"It's not that." Ash sighed and ran his hand through his messy black hair as he looked away from the screen. "Say I win it all, I somehow beat Diantha and become the Champion of the Kalos League, I then become one step away from achieving the goal I've had ever since I knew what Pokémon were, a Pokémon Master..." he looked back at the screen with a serious expression. "What happens to _us?"_

"Us as in you and me?"

"Exactly," the young man sighed and scooted closer to the screen. "It's already hard to cope with not being with you all the time Mist, there are times I've laid awake at night and just thought to myself, 'man, Misty would've loved this,' and then I start wishing you were here with me so I could...ya know..." he blushed. "Hold you, have you near me, supporting me like old times, just being able to have my girlfriend by my side where I feel like she belongs."

"Ashy," she cooed sympathetically. "Believe me, nothing would make me happier than to be with you on the road, if we're being perfectly honest, that's where I feel like I belong too," she looked down for a moment before continuing. "But I have responsibilities here in Cerulean, and I can't just shirk them like I did for so long. I leave, and the Gym falls apart. Daisy can take care of it for a few days at most when Tracey's helping her with the day-to-day stuff, and Kalos is so far that I would spend more time travelling back and forth between here and there than I would enjoying my time with you."

"But that's my point Mist!" for a moment, Ash took on the expression of a lost little boy who'd just been told his best friend was leaving him. "If I become the Kalos Champion...I'd have to spend a lot of my time in Kalos...I'd practically have to live here!" his eyes softened and even watered a bit. "It's already hard enough to squeeze a relationship through a computer screen Misty, and at this point..." he inhaled and exhaled before continuing. "I would rather give up my dream of being a Pokémon Master than give _you_ up."

"Ash...I...you...don't cry Ashy, please?"

"I'm not crying!" he barked a little louder than he'd intended, and he covered his face with his hat to avoid the odd gazes from the passers-by in the Pokémon Center. "I just...you've become so important to me Misty, I don't have just one dream anymore," his face turned very red as he pressed his hand against the screen as if he were reaching for her. _"You're_ my _new_ dream, and I'd rather have you than a title that would practically take you away from me forever because of distance of all things."

Misty made a valiant effort to maintain her composure, but she could feel her heart beating painfully in her chest from the strong emotions Ash was stirring up. The distance between them had been challenging and had even led to some legitimate arguments, but they'd so far been able to overcome the hardships and stay together despite all odds. But each day apart from each other, the longing grew and grew, and at this point, it had become large enough in their hearts that if it had been given a physical form, it would act as a bridge across the gap separating Kanto and Kalos.

As tears built in her eyes due to the swelling of her heart caused by Ash's pouring out of his own heart, the water-type Gym Leader placed her own hand on the screen so that their hands were pressed together, separated only by the screen in front of them. "I love you so much Ash."

"I love you too Misty, more than I ever thought I could."

She smiled even as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Don't worry, everything will work out for the best. Once you conquer the Kalos League, you'll come home and I'll be here waiting for you, that I promise." she could see that Ash was about to respond, but a distressed call from the depths of the Gym caught her attention and she looked over her shoulder. Once she turned back she frowned deeply at her boyfriend. "I gotta go, Daisy's having a problem with Gyarados again." with her hand still pressed against the screen, Misty moved in close and placed her forehead on the screen, and she could see that Ash had done the exact same thing. "I love you Ash, and don't worry, it doesn't matter how far away you end up, I'll never stop loving you. I went through too much torture waiting for you to tell me how you felt to just let you go now."

The black-haired trainer gave a sad chuckle of his own. "I wish I'd known sooner, maybe I would've been able to keep you from leaving to begin with."

Her lips upturned into a small smile. "Wishful thinking, the Gym still needed to be taken care of regardless...in fact, I think it's better it worked out this way, would we have been mature enough to handle this situation if we'd gotten together when we were thirteen?"

"Probably not."

"Exactly," another cry for help caught her attention for a moment. "I gotta go. Bye Ash, call me tomorrow ok?"

"I will, I promise." He looked into her shining bluish-green eyes longingly. "I love you Misty."

She looked into his deep chocolate-brown eyes with just as much yearning and desire as his own eyes held. "I love you too Ash."

Seconds later the screen went blank, and Ash was left with only his own reflection in the screen as he stared blankly at the dead videophone. "I won't lose you, not to this." Screwing on a determined expression as his hand closed into a tight fist against the screen, the future Pokémon Master got up from his seat in front of the videophone and marched back up to the room where his current traveling partners Clemont, Bonnie and Serena were holed up and likely waiting for him.

He'd come so far in his short life, and he had many people to thank for his success, but there were none more deserving than his beautiful redheaded girlfriend back home in the Kanto Region. As he headed up the stairs he made a decision in his mind and heart that after this league was over, he would go back home and try his luck at a more familiar league all over again, one where his own girlfriend would one day be on the verge of becoming part of the Elite Four, and he could take a shot at becoming the Champion there. They would work together in every sense of the word, and they would never be separated again.

That night he vowed that distance would never come between them again.  
_

 **A/N: Well, that's the end of that story. So tomorrow's theme is "Memories" and I honestly don't have any idea what I want to do with that one...this is the first time where I actually don't have a plan in mind. But I'll come up with something, don't you worry. Thank you so much for reading and as always, let's meet back tomorrow, shall we?**


	6. Midnight Trip Down Memory Lane

**Welcome to Day 6 of PokeShipping Week 2015. It's almost over gang, and needless to say it's been a big challenge for me to pump out a whole story every day, but I think it's given me an opportunity to practice and better my skills for my main stories, so it was well worth it. Plus, it's always good to have some more PokeShipping content out there. So today's theme is "Memories," hope you all enjoy it! I own nothing except the story.  
** _

Sleep was good. The refreshing sensation of being able to close your eyes and basically shut down after a long day was a feeling that couldn't be beat. The coolness of the pillow under your head, the warmth and comfort of a cozy blanket protecting you from the cold of the night, there was no greater feeling.

"Hey Ash?"

Unfortunately for one Ash Ketchum, it was a feeling he had yet to truly get a chance to appreciate over the past couple of weeks.

"Yeah Mist?"

"Can you get me some water?"

"Sure Mist."

The Indigo League Champion sluggishly dragged himself out from underneath the covers and headed downstairs to the kitchen to get his wife a cool glass of water, like a good husband should. For the past couple of weeks, Ash had been unable to get a proper night's sleep due to the fact that the woman he loved and married had been continuously waking him up in the middle of the night for requests or just to discuss random topics. Side effects of her pregnancy he figured.

The day he'd found out his beautiful wife was with child was the greatest day of his life...well, maybe. He had a lot of other fond memories to look back on over the course of his life, a lot of which had happened very recently in fact. But unfortunately for him, he couldn't do much thinking at all at the moment, as he robotically carried out his task of pouring Misty a glass of water and headed back up the stairs to give it to her, the whole time his eyes were barely open and his mind still trying to recapture whatever dream he'd been starting before he was woken up.

"Thank you Ashy."

He did relinquish a small but tired smile when she kissed his cheek in thanks. There were a few downsides to her pregnancy to be sure, but one very noticeable upside had been her suddenly increased willingness to give affection, and most of the time it was a fair trade off as he truthfully never could get enough of having her near him. As he crawled back under the covers, he kissed Misty's forehead and snuggled back into his pillow to nod off. Hopefully this time he would be able to-

"Ashy?"

Nope. No such luck.

He opened one eye and looked at her. "Yeah Mist?" he sighed.

"What would you say your greatest memory is?"

Ahh, so it was one of _those_ nights. One of those nights where Misty couldn't get to sleep and her mind wandered every which way until it finally found an interesting topic worthy of interrupting his much-needed beauty sleep. "My greatest memory huh?" he mumbled into the pillow.

"Yeah, what's the best thing you can remember?"

"The nap I took this afternoon, it was the greatest moment of my life."

The scowl on her face told him she wasn't amused. "Ha, ha," she deadpanned. "Now seriously, what's your greatest memory?" he would've answered, but Misty beat him to it with a dreamy expression on her face. "I think my greatest memory is the day that I married you, you looked so handsome in your tuxedo and I remember my heart beating so hard that I could feel the blood pumping in my ears."

He closed his eye and sighed, turning onto his back and placing his hands behind his head. "You trying to say I'm not handsome now?"

He received a slap on the arm for that, but at this point he didn't care. "You know what I mean Ash Ketchum!"

"Ketchum is _your_ last name too now, remember?"

That was apparently the right thing to say, as Misty's mood did a sudden 180 and she cooed lovingly in his ear. Darn hormones made everything difficult for him to predict, she could've just as easily snapped at him for that. "It sounds so nice too, Misty Ketchum, member of the Elite Four and wife of Indigo League Champion Ash Ketchum. You know that's in the running for greatest memory too, the day I replaced Lorelei as a member of the Elite Four," she scooted closer to him and leaned her head against his chest. "You know I never told you this, but I never really thought I'd get as far as I have, I really thought I'd be trapped at the Gym forever and be forced to babysit my older sisters for as long as I lived."

"You did good Mist," he tiredly patted her head and then put his arm around her. If he wasn't going to get to sleep tonight...again, then he decided he would at least make the most of it. Besides, the last time he fell asleep during one of these midnight chats, he'd spent the entire next day trying to apologize to Misty...or rather Misty's hormones, since she was as happy as could be just a few hours after threatening to make him sleep on the couch. "I remember when you first told me your dream was to become a water-Pokémon Master," he shook his head and smiled a bit despite his fatigue. "Somehow I miss those days."

"What?" she asked with an amused expression. "You mean us bickering and getting on each other's last nerves over every single thing under the sun? Or the fact that for the first few weeks or so I was only following you around because I wanted you to replace my bike?"

"Nurse Joy fixed your bike."

"That doesn't count."

"I bought you a freaking _car_ for your birthday last year, I think that beats the bike."

"Touché," Misty snuggled in closer and kissed his taut chest through his black pajama shirt before relaxing there again. "You know it's funny, I stopped caring about that bike just a few weeks after we started traveling together. It only took me a few weeks to see just how passionate you were about Pokémon and life in general, and from that moment on I was hooked, even as the immature brat that I was back then."

"You're _still_ an immature brat sometimes," he gladly accepted the second slap of the night. "It's part of what makes you Misty, I wouldn't ask you to change who you are."

"Nice save."

"I think so," he grinned for a moment, but then his face turned serious as a new memory came to the surface. "Do you ever think about what our lives would've been like if you hadn't fished me out of that river?"

"I try not to."

He smiled at that. "I'm serious Misty, I didn't know it at the time, but the day you fished me out of that river was possibly the greatest moment of my life, even with the circumstances as dire as they were." he turned over so he was facing her, and he smiled wider at the love shining in her sea-green eyes. "I made a friend for life that day, and I don't just mean Pikachu either, you tried to guide me, support me, cheer me up when I needed it and you were always there to give me a swift kick in the butt when I needed one." Ash guided his palm over her cheek and his heart swelled a bit when he saw her close her eyes and revel in the intimate contact. "I don't think I ever would've gotten as far as I did without you there to motivate me. Brock was great and all, but you had a certain effect on me that made me want to prove myself to you, and that drove me."

She opened her eyes and revealed they were beginning to shimmer with unshed tears. "I know what you mean," she whispered. "You did the same thing for me when we were kids, and the day that I had to leave you still ranks as the absolute worst day of my life, it was like tearing half of my heart out of my chest and leaving it there with you before going home." a tear leaked out. "I knew I was going to miss you so much, and every day I hoped that I would hear from you just so I could know how you were doing without me."

A small warning flag went up in Ash's mind when he saw the tears. That particular memory had always been difficult for Misty, and with her hormones making her emotions a mess, it was even more likely to cause her distress. "Hey, it's ok," he pulled her in closer and wrapped her up in his arms like a protective shield. "Those days are gone, and I'm here now. I'm not ever gonna leave you like that again," he reached down and pulled her hand up to their faces, where a simple gold band encircled her ring finger, identical to his own. "I made that promise the day I put that ring on your finger, and you know me Mist, I never break my promises."

"I know you don't."

Ash smiled and looked back up at the ceiling. "How about some more happy memories? Like when we went out on our first date at Cerulean Cape, or how about the night I proposed to you?" he chuckled. "Remember how I tried to make it so you'd find the engagement ring in your salad and you almost ate it without even noticing?" No answer. "Misty?" he turned his head towards her again and saw that she'd fallen asleep in his arms, her chest rising and falling steadily with a content smile gracing her features. He smiled lovingly at the sight and leaned down to place a feather-like kiss on the top of her head before snuggling deeper into his pillow. "Sweet dreams Misty."

At last the Champion closed his own eyes as a smile spread across his face and dreams of their history together came into his mind like a slideshow of all the amazing times he'd spent with her. Somewhere in his subconscious mind, Ash decided that it really was impossible to pin down a greatest memory with her, because in all honesty, his entire life spent with her counted as one memory. Their time as bickering kids, teenagers in love, their still short time as a married couple, it all amounted to one memory that was quite simply her. Maybe this midnight trip down memory lane had been worth being woken up after all, if it meant he'd get to sleep with visions of his beloved growing up with him as they fell deeper and deeper in love. Even the memory of her early pregnancy, the cause of his insomnia, he had no doubt would be remembered fondly as time went on.

"Hey Ash?"

On the other hand...  
_

 **A/N: I refused to go the sad route guys. I don't want to do anymore depressing stuff, you want depressing? Go watch the news, there's depressing stuff there all the time. I like happy writing. Some feels are good every once in a while, but too much isn't good for you...or rather me. ANYWAY, tomorrow's the last day of PokeShipping Week and the theme will be "Reunion," so it looks like I'll get a chance to try this again. Thank you all so much for reading, and if you enjoyed this story leave a review by pressing the button below, and as always, let's meet back tomorrow, shall we?**


	7. A Soldier's Wife

**Welcome to Day 7 of PokeShipping Week 2015 and the official PokeShipping Day. If you follow me on Tumblr, then you saw that I already posted the story there, and now I got an opportunity to post it here for all of you. I will admit, the theme of "reunion" was difficult for me since I've already written two different reunions and I didn't want to just repeat the same thing again. I did get some very sad ideas, but then inspiration hit me, and while this piece is still somewhat sad, I think you'll like it. I own nothing except the story.  
** _

A Pokémon Master's life wasn't an easy one. There were many responsibilities to take care of, meetings to go to, events to make appearances at, and there was always the occasional challenger coming to try and take away the title.

Misty Ketchum was all too aware of this.

Her husband had taken over the role of Master after climbing Mt. Silver, which separated the Kanto and Johto regions and defeated him in a formal challenge, the likes of which the world had never seen before and quite possibly would never see again. She remembered seeing him come home late that night, covered in snow from climbing the mountain and his eyes glazed over in an almost drunken euphoria. He looked at her for a moment, and then wrapped her up in a tight bear hug and spun her around in joy. All in all, she couldn't remember a time when she'd seen him more happy...well, maybe one.

But she never could've expected what came next.

Ash's popularity had already been incredibly high thanks to his previous title as Champion of the Indigo League, and she herself was no stranger to that sort of attention as her status as a member of the Elite Four often had her making lots of appearances in public, particularly at her own gym in Cerulean City and anywhere else where water-types were a focal point.

Even this wasn't so bad. Despite everything he had to do on a daily basis, Ash still found time for her and made sure she knew she was loved every single day. He held her close when she needed the attention, he talked to her when she was feeling lonely, anything he felt that he could do, he made sure to do. She'd told him to relax and that she was ok, but he insisted that he was making up for not being home that often.

Now though, she wished he could start watching over again like that.

A few weeks earlier, the married couple had been informed that being a Pokémon Master was not simply just about battling and PR stunts, it was also about protecting the general populous from any dangers that might arise...and according to Lance, who had retaken his place as Indigo League Champion after Ash became a Master, there was a long and hard battle that needed to be fought, as a member of an elite team known as the G-Men.

The whole thing was so surreal, the next day Ash had packed up his things and said goodbye to her with a long and passionate kiss that he said he hoped would hold her over until he returned to give her another one. She stood in the doorway with her aqua-blue robe on and watched as her young husband unleashed his Charizard and flew off into the sunrise to a place he'd been informed that - for her own safety - he couldn't disclose.

That had been three weeks ago.

Since then, Misty had done her very best to keep her mind off of Ash. She trained her Pokémon and herself harder than she ever had before, she threw herself into her work and essentially burned the candle at both ends to keep her mind busy and away from thoughts of her husband somewhere in the world fighting against an unknown threat. But eventually the work had run out, and her Pokémon - even the mighty Gyarados - had essentially begged her to take it easy on them as they were exhausted from the intense training.

Of course she obliged, as she couldn't expect her Pokémon to suffer just because she was suffering. So instead, the Elite Four member attempted to take solace in her mother-in-law Delia, but that had proven to be a mistake as they both were anxious over the young man they loved so dearly and meetings with her just turned into a session of sharing stories and making themselves even more worried than they were before.

It was times like these where Misty cursed the bureaucracy that was the Pokémon League. If she had known what was going on ahead of time, she would've fought to make sure that she was included on the mission, citing her authority as a member of the Elite Four and insisting she be brought along. But she only found out about a day before the operation was meant to begin, and so she had no time to try and force an exception in the rules as the league officials had insisted that she needed to stay behind so that there were at least three regular members of the Elite Four available in case a challenger did arrive.

Misty hadn't been mentally or emotionally prepared for this. She married the world's best Pokémon Trainer, not a soldier, and yet here she was, laying awake at about three in the morning with Pikachu stirring restlessly on her lap. She couldn't sleep, sleep just brought her more anguish as dreams of a man in a soldier's uniform knocking on her door to inform her of her husband's death came to her whenever she tried to close her eyes. To say she was sleep deprived was an understatement.

Dark circles had appeared under her eyes and she'd nearly been forced to go to the hospital by her sisters when she fainted and fell into the Cerulean Gym pool during an official appearance where she'd had to talk about water-Pokémon to young children aspiring to one day be trainers themselves. Her Gyarados had quickly plucked her from the water, and the kids all surrounded her and asked if she was ok.

She lied through her teeth and said she was.

The truth of the matter was, Misty was not ok. She had no one she could count on to keep her company. Brock and Tracey came over whenever they could but that wasn't often, and her sisters all had to work together just to keep the gym running as they weren't nearly as efficient at the job as she had been. Delia was a problem for obvious reasons.

As she turned to the window and looked into the night sky, the redhead said a silent little prayer that her husband would come home soon, safe and sound and still filled with the childlike wonder she'd come to love so dearly.

Just a few moments later, the redhead heard a knock at the door, and both she and Pikachu perked up at the sound and slowly made their way to the front door. Pikachu's cheeks sparked with barely contained electricity in case this late night visitor turned out to be an unwelcome one, and with her own Pokéball in hand, Misty whipped the door open...and seconds later the ball hit the ground and her face grew ashen at what she saw.

There was a man in a soldier's uniform in her doorway.

"Mrs. Ketchum?"

Misty felt her throat tighten and tears begin to come to the surface as she squeaked out a very weak reply. "Yes?"

"I have news regarding your husband, Pokémon Master Ash Ketchum."

"No, this can't be real." she pinched herself as hard as she could, but the physical pain did nothing to what she hoped had been a mere mirage. Her nightmare had become reality, and this man was surely here to tell her that the reunion she had prayed for would take place in Heaven, several years later after she died herself and would be able to meet Ash again. Well, for at least one more moment, she would stay strong. She screwed on a determined expression and fought to keep her bottom lip from quivering. The tears rolling down her face were bad enough. "What news do you have for me sir?"

The officer remained neutral, as his training required him to keep a professional air at all times while on duty. "I've just received word from Pokémon League officials regarding the status of your husband and the rest of the G-Men."

The redhead braced herself for the words she'd been dreading she'd hear ever since Ash had gone on the mission to begin with. _"I'll be strong, for you Ash...I'll make sure your legacy lives on forever...I'll see you again, someday."_

"The mission was successful...your husband is coming home."  
_

 **A/N: So there you have it, Ash lives and Misty will get her happy reunion. Now this wasn't just a random piece of writing. In a way, I know how Misty felt. My father is retired Navy, and when I was growing up I had to deal with him being gone a lot, and we were never sure if he would arrive home safe or not. It can be a scary thing to think about.**

 **God bless our military and the families they've left behind, may He watch over those who are watching over us and fighting for us. I want this piece to not only be what I think is a fitting end for PokeShipping Week, but I want it to be a tribute to our men and women in uniform who risk their lives every day on behalf of our liberty. Without them, I don't know where we'd be. Thank you.**

 **Happy PokeShipping Day everyone, I hope you enjoyed this past week of stories, but now I need a short break. Until next time dear readers,**


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